Tommy is Two!!

Can you believe it?! I know I can't! My baby boy who just turned one just turned two! Now I sound like Dr. Seuss.

Our sweet boy is growing leaps and bounds! He is still working on learning to walk better more and more - some days he's really interested and we'll stand up and walk to a toy and then others he wants nothing to do with walking and wants to scoot everywhere. Tommy is just so incredibly smart, strong, handsome, and fun! He is such a joy! He is however still human - let me balance out all my praise with keeping in mind he has become somewhat of a whiner and grunter but that's something that we work on daily. Tommy is becoming more and more social with people and kids and truly brings joy to my heart to watch him grow and do this. He has always been a ton of fun at home with us and people he knows really well, like his Nana and Pappy, but when other people would come around before he'd just go into a "watching" mode and want someone he knew to hold him. Now he is the one who seeks attention at times - especially at the grocery store! Oh my you'd think Tommy knew everyone and all their family at the grocery store and people remember him, they call him their little buddy, and the happy baby! He loves to give knuckles and high fives, but knuckles are his favorite!

He is still our little peanut, he wears some 12 and some 18 months clothes, which I know to a lot of moms must sound crazy considering he's 24 months old. But here's the thing I still have to carry him around so I'm A Okay with him being on the smaller side! Tommy knows probably 50+ signs now, Kyle says he knows more than him. If you ask Tommy where his baby is he will pat my belly. He gives his baby hugs and kisses, but I would say he really doesn't understand there's a baby in there it's just something we taught him through repetition and he's a sucker for any "awwww, how sweet" he can get! He loves to be praised and when people sing and clap - he gets super excited! If we're watching a TV show and at the end there is applause and cheering Tommy likes to join in and it always makes me and Kyle crack up! Tommy is learning to feed himself a lot more. This was more an issue for me than him - I didn't want to have to clean up a big mess all the time but with the new baby coming and with him being 2 years old I knew it was time to buckle down and he's been doing really well with it. I can tell it has helped his fine motor skills a lot. Tommy's favorite show is Signing Times, especially the Silly Pizza song! He also likes Curious George. He is almost done teething, praise the Lord! His 2 year old molars and one final tooth are all coming in at the same time and then I think he should be done until the next molars come which isn't for a few years if I'm not mistaken.

Tommy precious personality comes out more and more each day. It is so neat to find ways to encourage, discipline, and play with him in a fashion that is unique and effective with his own little personality. I laugh about how much Kyle and I thought we knew about disciplining and how we would handle it before we had children. Each baby/kid is a little person and are motivated and deterred by different things, words, or actions and we learn and figure things out day by day. I do love when we find an effective way to discipline or communicate discipline, even with specific words. I am amazed at how much Tommy verbally understands from us, it's mind boggling to me at times. It's so odd b/c he can't say anything to us but he is so good at observing and recognizing words and actions we've repeated over time that it has helped tons in disciplining and teaching him. Every time I say the word discipline please don't get the picture of us spanking him in your mind, most of his discipline is verbal. Sometimes there are actions that go with the discipline if he doesn't listen the first time and it helps get his attention but that comes in various forms too. When he grunts meanly and won't stop when asked I very gently take his little cheeks and squish them where he looks like a fish, he then looks at me and I tell him to stop grunting again. For some reason this works (most times) for him, it calls attention to his mouth, it makes him look at me in the eyes, and he knows what I'm asking him to do. I have told Kyle that I hope our future children are as smart and obedient as Tommy is. The other great thing is when we find something that encourages Tommy to do things - whether it's a game that makes him want to walk more or words that he understands and enjoys us saying to him. He loves for us to call him a funny, silly, or cute baby! He has a very specific "silly/funny face" and any time you ask him - "are you cute? are you funny..." he leans his head back, scrunches up his eyes, and smiles all at the same time! Oh he'll melt your heart! And this kid has an incredible memory! His favorite show Signing Times - he has the order of the sings memorized on the DVD! He'll look at me sign the upcoming sign and then clap his hands to tell himself good job! (This is another thing I love, he has learned to encourage himself which I was actually trying to teach him to do and now he does it all the time!) Over time Tommy has also realized that I keep certain treats in my purse, like fruit snacks, to help distract him at times. So any time he sees me get in my purse he looks at me and signs eat emphatically! He is a riot!

I could seriously sit here and never stop typing talking about this amazing two year old in our life! Tommy has taught me so much about life and love and sacrifice and just pure joy that I can't even begin to tell you what a blessing he is in our lives. How grateful am I to God for choosing us to be Tommy's parents! So happy second birthday sweet boy! We love you more than we could ever say! We are so impressed by you everyday - you make us laugh all the time and you make us so very proud!